LAKE ELSINORE: WATER DISTRICT TALKING RATE INCREASES
WATER RATE HIKES TO BE DISCUSSED

For the first time in several years, the water and sewer district serving Lake Elsinore, Wildomar and nearby areas is contemplating rate increases.

Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District officials say the increases they are discussing are needed to offset the escalating cost of imported water sold to the region by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Since Elsinore Valley’s last major rate increases, which were spread over the fiscal years 2009-10 and 2010-11, the district has kept rates steady despite the rising cost of imported water.

“We’ve struggled in the past few years to keep the rates down as low as we can,” district board President Phil Williams said.

Measures taken by the district to avoid charging its customers more include decreasing its staff, using aging equipment rather than replacing it, and dipping into reserves.

“We’ve done a lot to keep rates down, but unfortunately the cost of the water we’re getting from MWD keeps going up,” Williams said. “So there’s nothing we can do but pass that cost on to our folks.”

Over the past two years, the cost of water that Metropolitan supplies from Northern California and the Colorado River has gone up 12.1 percent, costing Elsinore Valley $2.2 million more since 2010, said district spokesman Greg Morrison. Meanwhile, customers have experienced negligible increases, if any.

That may change when the board approves a budget in June. District staff proposes water and sewer increases that would ratchet up the bill of an average four-person household by $6.51 per month. That would bring their monthly bill up to $109.86, Morrison said. Notices of the proposed increases already have been sent out to customers as required by law.

Along with the increases, district officials also are looking at altering the system for determining how much water customers can use before they are penalized with higher rates.

Under the district’s tiered rate system adopted in 2009, customers are allowed more water in summer than in winter before the higher rate kicks in. Under a newly proposed format, the allocations would be figured monthly based on a 10-year average of the district’s water need per month. That would provide more of a transition from the summer to winter so customers wouldn’t be stuck abruptly with much bigger bills.

“There’s a little more flexibility in the base conservation rate before they go into the penalty rates,” Morrison said.